Letters: Working with D'Amours was a true delight

Gerald and Paul D'Amour are seen at Chez Joseph in Agawam in 1989 when they received the National Human Relations Award. (Photo by Don Fontaine / The Republican)

Working with D’Amours was a true delight
News of the death of Gerald E. D’Amour prompted memories of the years during which I collaborated with the Engineering department of the former Springfield Sugar company on the interior design and decor of several Big Y markets in our area.

In harmony with your editorial note, I too found Paul and Gerald D’Amour a pleasure to work with. They were always gracious and fair, so much so that we never had a disagreement or difficulty in our relationship.

I recall having stayed late into the evening at times, conferring about the elements of design in their stores. They gave me the green light to be as creative as I wanted to be.

I was with Paul and Gerald in the upstairs office in their Chicopee store when a new Big Y logo was under consideration. We all agreed that it was a keeper and it has proved to be so. At other times, they asked me for advice in laying out their sale fliers.

Never will I forget the evening when Paul invited me to his home in West Springfield for dinner. His wife put a large platter of porterhouse steaks on the table.

There were no better people to do business with than Paul and Gerald D’Amour. My business connection with Big Y ended the year they switched to another wholesale grocery distributor.
- GEORGE STANLEY
Longmeadow

Bloomberg stands up for religious freedom
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg should be commended for standing up for religious freedom in America by supporting plans to build a mosque and community center on private property.

Freedom of religion is a core American value. To deny Muslims the right to establish a worship community near Ground Zero denies them that freedom.

Our Creator created ALL of us, regardless of our religion. God Bless Mayor Bloomberg and the people of various faiths who came together for his very moving speech in favor of having the mosque/community center built.
- KATHY M. MULLINS
South Hadley

There’s another spill polluting Gulf of Mexico
The good news from the Gulf of Mexico is that the oil-spouting BP well has finally been sealed, and that the devastating impacts of the massive oil spill on beaches, wildlife habitats, and marine ecosystem are gradually abating. The bad news is that there are no immediate plans to abate a much larger, deadlier, and continuing spill smothering life in the Gulf.

Each day, the Mississippi River dumps into the Gulf of Mexico millions of tons of animal waste from Midwest factory farms and animal feed crop lands. The nitrates in animal waste and fertilizer runoff produce vast algae blooms that suck up oxygen from the water, killing all marine life. The pesticides seal the deal. According to Wikipedia, the resulting “dead zone” extends over 8,500 square miles, roughly three times the size of the BP oil slick. We react dramatically to unanticipated threats like the BP oil spill and accidental deaths, yet we tend to accept and tolerate the much more damaging, but routine, threats from animal waste discharges and deaths from killer diseases linked to meat and dairy-laden diets.
-SHERMAN JOSWICK
Springfield

Biomass plan holds hope for our future
There are millions of Americans out of work. You cannot buy clothes or tools or even power equipment that was made in our country by American men and women! Our government and industry have sold the American worker and labor unions down the river.

The politicians in Boston and Washington are influenced by environmentalists who believe that American industry should not pollute our air. Because of global politics they can’t do anything about China and India’s air pollution. These countries produce a hundred times more pollutants than we do! It would anger them if sanctions were brought to bear on their products because they are causing global warming with their carbon dioxide emissions.

In the fall we are going to be asked to ban certain power plants in our state from releasing excess carbon dioxide into the air. This may seem like a pretty good idea until you investigate it. It will kill the development of power plants that provide electricity that we can’t live without! I believe that foreign big oil companies are funding this campaign. They fear losing even a tiny share of the energy market to our biomass plants that want to produce green electricity by burning waste wood.

We are literally surrounded by forests. There is 85 percent more forested land in our state than there was 100 years ago! There is no chance that using tree tops left over from logging will deplete them!

Biomass wood chips would benefit forest owners and not housing developers or Arab terrorist organizations! American trucks driven by union drivers would deliver them to the plants. These plants would be constructed by American construction workers, and Americans would be the people running them.

We have done much to clean up our air and our rivers, and the environmentalists that brought pressure on industry and our government to do this should be praised! However, if American industry is not given a break so it can produce green energy to be used by Americans, we may be in a downward economic spiral. How can Americans buy foreign goods if they do not have jobs? How can you heat your home next winter if foreigners regulate the price of oil that makes electricity?
-BILL HARDIE
Russell

Associated PressFILE - This Feb. 13, 2008, file photo shows former New York Yankees baseball pitcher Roger Clemens being sworn-in on Capitol Hill in Washington, prior to testifying before the House Oversight, and Government Reform committee hearing on drug use in baseball. The New York Times reported on its website Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010, that federal authorities have decided to indict Roger Clemens on charges of making false statements to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Clemens throws pitches, congressmen stones
Let me see if I have this right. Former pitching great Roger Clemens is being charged with committing perjury before a congressional panel discussing steroid use.

I believe that any athelete will sooner or later pay the price for using performance- enhancing drugs. It’s a case of “play now, pay later.”

That said, lets look at Clemens’ accusers. Congressmen and senators will say anything to get elected and then do as they please. They lie as a matter of course to push any bill through that contains pork for their districts so they can better their chances for re-election.

I know I have become cynical in my old age. Our system of government has served us very well and I pray it continues to do so. It’s just that people who live in glass houses should be careful of the accusations they throw at others.
-ROBERT MENARD
Chicopee